Suarez repeated his desire to join a club in the Champions League and said that Liverpool had gone back on an agreement written into his contract, signed last August, which obliges them to sell to any club offering more than 40 million pounds .

“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go,” he told the paper.

“Now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement.” Arsenal are reported to have bid £40,000,001 pounds for the Uruguayan in a bid to trigger the release agreement.

Liverpool maintain the clause only obliges them to negotiate with clubs offering more than 40 million pounds, but Suarez disagrees.

“I have the club’s word and we have the written contract and we are happy to take this to the Premier League for them to decide the case but I do not want it to come to that,” he told the Guardian.

“I’m 26. I need to be playing in the Champions League. I waited one year and no one can say that I did not give everything possible with my teammates last season to get us there.”